More than 400 flood victims to date have contacted the Disaster Legal Services Hotline. Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services Executive Director Erik Cole reports that many callers have requested assistance with landlord/tenant issues with insurance assistance being the second highest need. More than half of the callers are Davidson County residents, followed by those in Shelby and Rutherford counties.

To help lawyers offering assistance to flood victims, the Tennessee Bar Association has developed a third free, one-hour webcast to educate attorneys who want to help flood victims. This webcast will feature members of the Metro Recovery Team and will focus on the buyouts being offered to homeowners in the flood way and the flood plain. The one-hour webcast begins at noon tomorrow (Wednesday).

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This is a personal injury case. The Appellant/Defendant's employee backed a van into a vehicle which the Appellee/Plaintiff was driving. Until the accident, the Plaintiff had not had any problems with her right shoulder. The morning after the accident the Plaintiff had pain and soreness in her shoulder. She was treated by three different orthopedic surgeons and ultimately had arthroscopic right shoulder surgery. The parties stipulated to liability. However, the Defendant disputed causation. A bench trial was held and the trial court found that the accident caused the Plaintiff's shoulder injury which necessitated the shoulder surgery. Defendant appealed from the trial court's judgment. We affirm.

David K. Calfee, Cleveland, Tennessee, for the appellant, Ayatollah William Wallace.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Rachel West Harmon, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: MCLIN

A jury convicted the petitioner, Ayatollah William Wallace, of three counts of aggravated kidnapping. The trial court sentenced him to an effective sixteen-year sentence in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On direct appeal, this court upheld the convictions and sentences. The petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief alleging the ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and on direct appeal. The Criminal Court for Bradley County denied post-conviction relief, and the petitioner now appeals. Following a review of the parties' briefs, the record, and applicable law, we affirm the denial of post-conviction relief.

The three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today tossed out a government policy that can lead to broadcasters being fined for allowing even a single curse word on live television, concluding that the rule was unconstitutionally vague and had a chilling effect on broadcasters.
The court struck down the 2004 Federal Communications Commission policy, which said that profanity referring to sex or excrement is always indecent.

Late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's papers just became available at Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library. Stewart died in 1985 at age 70, but he stipulated that his papers would not be made public until the retirement of all justices with whom he served. Justice John Paul Stevens was the last justice in that category, so his departure was the trigger for the release of Stewart's papers, at long last.

Last night's debate at Belmont University by Republicans Zach Wamp, Bill Haslam and Ron Ramsey, and Democrat Mike McWherter covered issues of candidates' wealth, past campaign contributions, votes for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, how they would trim the state's budget and more.

President Barack Obama has endorsed Congressman Steve Cohen in his reelection bid for the 9th Congressional District seat in Tennessee.
Cohen, a two-term incumbent, is running against former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton in the primary to be held Aug. 5.

TBA members are offered a rental car discount through Avis. Enroll in the Avis Preferred Service at www.avisawards.com to bypass the rental counter and go directly to your car for a faster, easier rental experience. Enter code AWD# A570100.